New Border Policy: Don’t Return the UN’s Phone Calls

Image by Ben Thomson

Australia’s been getting a lot of bad press over its refugee policies, and nobody in the government can work out why. No, no, don’t look over there to Asia; look over here to Lebanon and Jordan, where Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been dropping dollars. Bishop announced $20 million in funding this week as a part of the UN’s No Lost Generation campaign, aimed at tackling the issue of children isolated as a result of the Syrian War. Obviously, reading up on the Syrian conflict after the Department of Immigration tried to send asylum seekers back to Syria resulted in a pause for thought. Though let’s remember that the $20 million contribution, while nice, comes after $650 million in foreign aid cuts. While we’re playing the memory game, take a minute to remember that the Syrian refugees currently in our detention centers won’t ever get to live in Australia. Seems like there could be another simple way of helping Syrian refugees, doesn’t it?

–In January the UN made an official request for Australia to prove its boat-turn-back policy isn’t in breach of the Refugee Convention. A call we apparently haven’t bothered to return. While speaking in Jakarta, the UNHCR’s regional representative, James Lynch, said that people from seven boats who have been returned to Indonesia recently made it to Australian land, or at least territorial waters. Under the Convention, if the claims of the asylum seekers are true they would be entitled to enter Australia as asylum seekers. What the UN fails to realize is that here we consider the Refugee Convention to be like iTunes’ terms and conditions; you don’t read them, you just sign them.

–Here’s a handy tip on how to avoid pissing off a crowd: Don’t destroy the small shred of hope an already despondent group of people have. Unfortunately for Scott Morrison, this advice arrived six months too late and was unable to keep him from raising detention-center tensions to almost riot like levels back in September. According to Martin Appleby, a former security employee at the center at the time, Morrison’s address to the Manus Island compound last year resulted in a state of “high alert." In his address, Morrison reportedly told detainees, “You will never see the shores of Australia." Appleby recorded the comments of Morrison in a video diary just days after the visit, identifying the incident as a turning point in camp tensions. Appleby went on to say that, by speaking to detainees in such a way, Morrison “put people’s security at risk, including his own.” A spokesperson for Morrison has denied that any comments by the minister increased tensions in the center, but a transcript of a September 30 press conference does highlight the sternness of Morrison’s address: “I gave them a very clear message, and it was this: They will not be getting what they came for. They would remain there at that center until they went home or were settled in a country other than Australia.”

–According to leaked documents, detainees on Nauru will only enjoy five years of stability once their refugee claims have been processed, after which it’s expected they’ll be resettled in another country. After being approved for refugee status, asylum seekers will receive a five-year working visa for the island nation, with the first detainees reportedly due for release in a few weeks. The document, leaked from the Nauru Department of Justice and Border Control, highlights the terms and conditions for those found to be refugees. It also includes a strong emphasis on reducing protest activity—detainees judged to be of bad character could be refused refugee status. After five years it’s been widely suggested that refugees be permanently settled throughout the region, in countries like Cambodia. Let the trading-card swap of asylum seekers continue!

–Nauru would really like to be left alone right now, thanks. This week the country denied Amnesty International, another independent assessor, from accessing its detention center. The Nauruan Government told Amnesty the timing wasn’t great, and then also declined when Amnesty tried to reschedule for basically any time ever in the known future. The news follows UN assessors' getting bounced earlier this month. It also follows a hike in media visas from $200 to $8,000. As of January Nauru held around 860 asylum seekers in detention, which raises the question: When it comes to having these centers assessed, can we really take no for an answer?

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